Comparative analysis of organizational structures of employee centred enterprises : doctoral thesis

Gonza, Tej (author), Ellerman, David P. (mentor), Kanjuo-Mrčela, Aleksandra (comentor)

This PhD dissertation examines the question of the market viability of democratic forms and employee-centred enterprises (ECEs), challenging the dominant view that capitalist forms are the only viable form of economic firm in the market economy. Market viability designates the ability of an organizational form to survive in the market economy and includes two aspects. Economic viability is the ability to engage in production in a relatively efficient way and be competitive relative to other organizational forms. Organizational viability is the relative ability to maintain a given organizational form. Central to our analysis is the contention that the market viability challenges of ECEs are not due to their employee-centred form but rather the organizational structure, which varies between different employee centred models. Our research studies the relationship between the organizational structure and market viability of ECEs. To do so, we analyse four different EC models – Yugoslav Self-Managed Firm, Plywood Cooperatives, ESOP firms, and Mondragon Cooperatives. The models have been selected carefully to inform our research on the market viability challenges. The research primarily used a secondary research method, which allowed us to review a rich collection of studies (both theoretical and empirical), through which we were able to gain the best insight into the scope of the research questions. The main objective of the research is to identify the effect of various features of organizational structure in ECEs on both aspects of market viability, to study whether comparable levels of market viability can be attained by ECEs, and to provide guidelines on structural features for ECEs based on our analysis. Our dissertation has a scholarly and a practical contribution. The dissertation contributes to the literature, which studies the viability of ECEs in the market economy and provides guidelines for policy initiatives and practical implementation of employee-centred structures in businesses.

• Language: English
• Keywords: democratic form, capitalist form, employee-centred enterprises, market viability, organisational structure
• Work type: Doctoral dissertation
• Typology: 2.08 - Doctoral Dissertation
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: T. Gonza
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 421 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-159243
• UDC: 334(043.3)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 202058499
• Publication date in RUL: 04.07.2024

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Primerjalna analiza organizacijskih struktur na zaposlene osredinjenih podjetij : doktorska disertacija

Abstract

Doktorska disertacija obravnava vprašanje tržne vzdržnosti demokratičnih oziroma na zaposlene osredinjenih podjetij (ZOP). Raziskujemo vprašanje, ali in pod kakšnimi pogoji organizacijske strukture lahko ZOP dosegajo dolgoročno vzdržnost v tržnem gospodarstvu. V ekonomski literaturi se pogosto predvideva, da ZOP niso učinkovita in konkurenčna konvencionalnim podjetjem (vprašanje ekonomske vzdržnosti). Pogosto se kritika je tudi, da ZOP ne zmorejo dolgoročno ohranjati na zaposlene osredinjene organizacijske oblike, kar pomeni, da se v tržnem gospodarstvu prej ali slej preoblikujejo v konvencionalna podjetja (vprašanje organizacijske vzdržnosti). Naša raziskava se osredotoča na odnos med tržno vzdržnostjo in organizacijsko strukturo, po kateri se med seboj razlikujejo ZOP modeli. Preučujemo štiri pomembne modele ZOP (jugoslovansko samoupravno podjetje, lesne zadruge, ESOP podjetja in Mondragon zadruge), ki so bili izbrani prav z namenom, da omogočijo uvid v ključne izzive tržne vzdržnosti. V raziskavi smo uporabljali sekundarno raziskovalno metodo, ki nam je omogočila vpogled v že obstoječe raziskave na relevantnem področju (teoretične in empirične), za katerega ugotavljamo, da še ni bilo pregledno in sistematično analizirano. Glavni cilj raziskave je analizirati odnos med organizacijsko strukturo in tržno zdržnostjo, preučiti, ali lahko ZOP dosegajo primerljive stopnje tržne vzdržnosti in identificirati elemente organizacijske strukture, ki pozitivno vplivajo na vzdržnost. Raziskava ima akademski in praktični prispevek. Sistematizira obstoječe znanje v literaturi in na podlagi kritine analize obstoječih debat kreira novo znanje glede tržne vzdržnosti ZOP. Hkrati s priporočili glede organizacijske strukture informira bolj praktično delo na področju ZOP, kot sta politično delo in implementacija na zaposlene osredinjenih struktur v podjetjih.

• Keywords: demokratična oblika podjetja, kapitalistična oblika podjetja, na zaposlene-osredinjena podjetja, tržna vzdržnost, organizacijska struktura